Frame-Ups with Fame
by dreamlit-daedalist
Summary: Iko can be a terrible friend, at least in Cinder's current frame of mind.


**Author's Note(s):** From the prompt: "My friend thought you were cute so she tried to take a picture of you for snapchat and her flash went off but when you looked our way she shoved her phone into my hands and nOW YOU THINK IT'S ME AND OH GOD PLS DON'T BE MAD"

Cinder and Iko because of course Iko would be that friend. And Kai ;) I don't own TLC or its characters

(Please just ignore my pitiful excuses for titles)

* * *

Cinder didn't consider herself a very violent person.

Not at all.

If anything, she was pretty laid-back.

It took a lot to rile her, and that was usually if it involved her own embarrassment. Or Thorne. (Her roommate had a remarkable way of getting under her skin, and loved to exercise it at every opportunity)

But at this very moment, she considered just how bad it would look to be caught strangling the girl sitting next to her.

It was her fault she was here right now, clutching this enormous phone in her hands and at a complete loss of words for the stranger sitting at the cafe table across from them, staring at her.

To make matters worse, she had no idea what was going on. One minute she was tuning out Iko's rambling about her college probs, (and wondering when their order would come because _stars_ , she was hungry) and the next, an over-sized, glittery phone was being shoved into her arms and people at the surrounding tables were side-eyeing her as if she'd been throwing a fit or something.

Her eyes wandered down to the phone, hoping to find some sort of explanation, and was met with the snapshot of a guy. Curved against a table and typing busily away at a phone, with dark hair tumbling down his face and tucked into the hood of his sweatshirt; she'd be lying if she said he wasn't attractive. But then she noticed the intense lighting, the blur of the picture, as if it'd been taken in a hurry.

Internally, she groaned.

Of course Iko would have her flash on. Of course she'd take a picture of a complete stranger and hand off the blame to her. She was seriously contemplating the whole strangling thing.

At a closer look, she could almost make out his face. Tentatively, she lifted her gaze back to said staring stranger.

It was definitely him, with the gray hoodie and nice eyes, but to her horror, she realized she _knew_ him.

Ok, that wasn't exactly true. She knew _of_ him.

They'd crossed paths before, in the tiny book shop a few blocks down, the supermarket near the dorms, and once in an awkward encounter at the subway station (which she really didn't want to think about at the moment).

He'd been practically everywhere she looked for the past few days, and it was just now she had the chance to talk to him. Only he probably thought she was some sort of creep.

What luck she had.

She took a breath, mentally preparing herself for further embarrassment, and opened her mouth to say- something, when he broke his gaze, sighing and looking as done with this situation as she felt. Then he was up from his seat and coming towards them.

Cinder's cheeks were starting to feel like they were on fire when he came to a stop, lifting his chin and regarding her with the utmost seriousness.

"All right look, I understand that this was a great opportunity for you or your career or whatever, but I'm just not feeling up to it right now. You can obviously see that I'm tired and trying to be inconspicuous, so I'd really appreciate if you can delete that picture, or at least hold off on posting for a day or two."

There was a pause, before Cinder could register that he was still staring, clearly expecting some sort of response.

"I- I have no i-de- what?" She managed to stammer out. So much for mental preparation. What was he talking about?

His eyes narrowed, thick eyebrows bunching together. It would have been cute if it didn't come off as so intimidating.

"I'm trying to go easy on you here. You've caught sight of me for a while now, following me everywhere I go; trust me, you're not that subtle. So don't think that I'm okay with you announcing my location to the world."

Ok, he was making absolutely _no_ sense.

At her shocked silence, he raised a hand to tuck some hair from his eyes. When he looked back towards her, his face was hard.

"I don't want to make a scene, so here's your chance. Keep quiet, or I'll find a way to force you to."

She was openly gaping now, wondering if this was a joke or if he was that paranoid. Before she could think to ask, Iko finally decided to intervene.

"Are you some sort of criminal or something?"

"What?" Now it was his turn to look confused. He stared back and forth between them, and then opened his lips in a silent 'oh'.

"Wait- you don't recognize me?"

"Recognize you? Why would we recognize you?" Iko answered, just as Cinder found her tongue again.

"Okay, look, this was completely her fault," She gestured at Iko, who glared, "she thought you were cute, and I was here being completely disapproving, and she snuck a picture of you with her phone, and then incriminated me."

He stared at her for a moment, and then snorted.

Cinder was taken aback. She just confessed how utterly creepy her friend was, making a complete fool of both of them in the process; he was weirdly defensive, and now he thought this was funny?

She refocused on the phone, trying to block out how attractive she found his amusement. Like, _really really attractive_.

"Here, I'll delete it right now, I promise." She unlocked the phone, and went to the photos.

"It's fine." He said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and giving her this shy look that did unfortunate things to her stomach. "As long as you don't put it up anywhere, then we're good. I just thought you were stalking me or something."

If it was possible, her face got even warmer.

"No, I - this is completely coincidental, I promise you."

The corners of his lips turned up at seeing her embarrassment, and then he nodded.

"Okay, well, sorry about getting all up in your face like that. Hope you have a nice day."

"You too." She managed to say, and he was gone, striding away in the street. She watched him for a moment before a cry from the girl next to her broke her out of her gaze.

"What now Iko?" She asked, making sure her annoyance seeped into every word. She was so going to be payed back for this.

Her "friend" was clutching the phone close, her jaw open and eyes wide. She thrust the phone towards her again, squealing in excitement this time around.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT WAS?!"

Cinder peered at the screen, making out some sort of webpage, with the picture Iko had taken shrunk at the top, and a brief biography below. She could see the title, _KAITO HUANG_ , and under that, _Teen Idol, Business Magnate, Heir Apparent to Commonwealth Industries._

Cinder's face felt like it was on fire.

Great, she'd made a fool of herself not only in front of a hot guy, but a world-famous one at that.

Iko squealed, fiercely rubbing at the bruise rising in her arm.


End file.
